PayPal has acquired Iron Pearl, a California-based start-up specializing in customer acquisition and engagement, and formed a new growth team to expand its customer base.

PayPal had record growth at the end of 2012, with more than 5 million new users joining in the last quarter of the year, David Marcus, PayPal’s president, wrote on the company’s blog yesterday. The company is further investing in expanding its customer base with a new acquisition that Marcus announced in his blog post. The company is acquiring Iron Pearl, a start-up that is focused on customer acquisition and engagement, according to Marcus’ blog post.

Iron Pearl has built its tools and methodologies by using data analyiss and predictive modeling to grasp the social and cultural factors that boost the spread of new products, Marcus wrote. Iron Pearl’s co-founders Stan Chudnovsky and James Currier will take up executive positions within PayPal’s new growth team that will aim to increase the company’s customer base by using Iron Pearl’s tools and methods of data analysis.

Jonathan Camhi has been an associate editor with Bank Systems & Technology since 2012. He previously worked as a freelance journalist in New York City covering politics, health and immigration, and has a master's degree from the City University of New York's Graduate School ... View Full Bio